Car-door



(NoModeL) J. LA FORE.

OARVDOORF No. 505,836. Patented Oct. 3,1893.

WIZWESSES l/VYEWZ'OZ? John lei/fore I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN LAFORE, OF ARGENTA, ARKANSAS.

CAR-DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 505,836, dated October3, 1893.

Application filed June 28, 1893. Serial No. 479,055- (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN LAFORE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Argenta, in the county of Pulaski, State of Arkansas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Doors, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had therein to theaccompanying drawings.

My invention is designed more especially for use in connection withdoors for refrigerator cars, but may be applied to ordinary freightcars, the door being adapted to rest within the opening in the car andbe flush with the outer surface thereof when said open.- in g is closed.It is also adapted to be removed laterally onto guard rails on whichitcan be made to slide. l

The objects of my improvement are to pro .vide simple, reliable, andinexpensive means to operate the door and secure it in a closedposition. I attain these objects. by the construction. illustrated inthe accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a front view of aportion of the side of a car provided with a car door operated andretained in accordance with my invention, the door being shown closed insaid figure. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same, taken on linea: m of Fig. 1. front view of a portion of the side of a car providedwith a door supported and operated in accordance with my invention, theopening.

in the side of the car being shown open. Fig. at is a perspective viewof one of the angular levers connected to one of the crank rods used toshift the door out of, and into the opening made for its reception, inthe side of the car. Fig. 5 is a perspective View of the latch carryingframe, the latch, and the guides forthe angular levers. of the doorcarrying base plate. Fig. 7 is a vertical section on line y y of Fig. 1but on a larger scale showing. the door, its frameand the door-carryingbase plate and the guide rails for said base plate and door. Fig.8 is aperspective View ofthe door controlling handlever and its connectingrods.

In said drawingsArepresents a portion of the frame of one of the sidesof the car.

Fig. 3 is a said frame are secured horizontally the guide rails B and Bby means of bolts or screws passing through lugs b and b projecting respectively from the' tops and bottoms and the ends of said rails. Therails B and B are made of trough-like form, with the horizontal portionperforated for the escape of rain or snow therethrough. The pendentedges of the trough B serve as guides for narrow plates 0 secured to theunder side of the door guiding plate 0, while the upper edges of thetrough B serve as guides for small plates a secured to the top of thedoor-carrying base plate 0 Said plate 0 is received within the sides ofthe trough B while the small plates 0 have their ends resting upon theedgesof said trough B The plates 0 may be made integral with the baseplates 0 or be riveted thereto.

The door D is preferably made of wood, but it is provided on its outerface with a fiat-bar metal frame D the edges of which project beyond theedges of the door, and said frame is thus adapted to fit closely andsubstantially air tight against the face of the car surround ing thedooropening A .The door D is of such size as tofit closely within saidopening A when it is to be closed. To push the door D within saidopening A to close it, or remove plate 0 the latter thus supporting thedoor. Fig. 6'is a perspective view 1 the base plate 0 said crank armshave adja- Tov retain the lower crank arms 6 united to cent to theirouter ends, and pendent therefrom, pins 6 that are received in slots 0formed in said base plate parallel with, and close to, its front. Thetop guide plate G has also slots therein (similarly formed and lo catedas the slots 0 in the base plate 0 to receive pins e projectingvertically from the tops of the crank armse As the vertical rods e areso journaled to the door that they cannot be forced away from eachother; if the outer ends of their crank arms are forced away from eachother with their pins 6 e traveling toward the outer ends of the slots 0of the plates 0 and C the tendency of the rods 6 will be to occupy aposition perpendicularly above said slots 0 and to carry the front edgeof the door D toward said slots, and thus remove said doors from withinthe door opening A in the side of the car. This outwardly lateral motionof the crank arms e e is accomplished by a series of connecting rods andof levers pivoted to the outer face of the door D in a manner that willnow be described. To the outer face of said door is first secured a Tshaped bearing plate F used to support and guide other parts. To each ofthe upper branches of said plate, the upper ends of levers G are pivotedat g. The lower end of each of said levers is bent forward at a rightangle to its body to form an arm G2 that has pivoted to its frontextremity at 9 one end of a connecting rod h, and the opposite end ofsaid connecting rod is pivoted at g to the crank arm e of each verticalrod e.

To move the lower end of each lever laterally an equal distance, a handlever I is pivoted at f to the lower portion of the plate F and at equaldistance above and under said pivotal point f, connecting rods 2' haveone end pivoted at i to the hand lever I, while their opposite ends arepivoted at 2' to the levers G. The upper end of the lever I has an arm Iprojecting forward from its face that is used as a handle to move it inan arc of a circle, and thus operate on the levers G. The arm I hastransversely across it a slot 1' to receive the lower end of alatch-bolt f that is suspended from a bracket F on the front of theplate F. Said latch-bolt is retained connected to the bracket F by meansof a small pin projecting forward from said bracket and passing througha slot made lengthwise of said latch-bolt. The latch-bolt f has aforward lug by which it can be lifted from engagement with the slot 2'of the hand lever. The handle of said lever has a small perforation 2'to receive the wire of a lead (or other) seal that is also made to passthrough a small perforation in the forward end of the bracket F".

To guide the lower portions of the levers G close to the face of thedoor D, a metal strip k is secured to the lower bearings of the rods ein front of said levers G. Said levers are also guided in their middleportions, behind a segmental plate F secured to the front of the bearingplate F. The front face of the plate F serves also as a guide for theupper portion of the hand lever I and its face is provided on one sideof its center with a recessed lug F to arrest said hand lever at theupper end of its course, under the latch-bolt f To make sure that thetravel of the door will be squarely across the plates 0 and '0 whenpulling said door out of the door opening A or when pushing it into saidopening, each small plate a secured upon the plate 0 at each endthereof, is provided with a slot 0 to receive a pin projecting from thebottom edge of two small plates (1 secured to the bot tom portion of theframe D of the door D. The top portion of the frame D has also in thecenter thereof a small plate (1 provided with a pin on its upper edgethat enters a slot 0 (like 0 in Fig. 6), in a small plate a securedcentrally to the under side of the door guiding plate 0.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim- 1. The combination ofthe side of a car having an opening A therein, trough shaped guide railssecured to said car above and under said opening, plates 0 and 0received within thetrough of the guide rails and having slots 0lengthwise thereof and plates 0 crosswise thereof, the latter receivedupon the edges of the guide rails, with a door, two vertical rods eretained in hearings on said door and having crank arms on each end, andupon said arms, pins received within the slots 0 substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination of the side of a car having an opening A therein,trough shaped guide rails secured to said car, plates 0 and 0 receivedwithin the trough of the guide rails, plates 0 crosswise thereof andhaving slots 0 therein, said plates 0 being received upon the edges ofthe guide rails, with a door having a metal frame D secured upon itsface, plates d attached to the frame D and having projecting from theiredges, pins received in the slots 0 substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

3. The combination of trough shaped guide rails, plates 0 and 0 receivedtherein and having slots 0 lengthwise thereof, a door,

two vertical rods 2 retained in bearings on said door and having crankarms on each end, pins 6 projecting from the crank arms and receivedwithin the slots 0 connecting rods pivoted to the crank arms at one endand at the other end to levers pivoted to the door substantially asdescribed.

4. The combination of trough-like guide rails, plates received thereinand having slots 0 lengthwise thereof, a door, two Vertical rods 6 onsaid door and having crank arms on their ends, pins 6 projecting fromthe crank arms and received within the slots 0 connecting rods havingone end pivoted to the crank arms and the other end to levers G pivotedon the door, a hand lever having its pivot between the levers G, andconnecting rods uniting the hand lever to the lever G substantially asdescribed.

5. The combination of guide rails, plates thereon having slots 0lengthwise thereof, a door, two vertical rods e on said door and havingcrank-arms and eccentric pins, con necting rods uniting said crank-armsto levers G pivoted on the door, a bearing plate F In testimonywhereof Iaflix my signature in between said levers, a bracket on said platepresence of two Witnesses. F, a latch-bolt suspended from said bracket,

a hand lever I pivoted on the plate F and JOHN LAFORE' 5 having a slotfor the reception of the latch Witnesses:

bolt, and connecting rods uniting it to the JOHN T. ANDERER,

levers G substantially as described. D. H. LYLES.

